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104-10170-10145) (2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOH

NF. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 |

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‘MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: Ramparts:. John Garrett UNDERHILL Jrt,
sO ~ ‘Samuel George CUMMINGS, and
INTERARMCO >

a 1. Ramparts of June 1967, Vol. 5, No. 12, pp- 28-29, contains:
; the following passages about Subjects: 2

_. “The day after the assassination, Gary Underhill left

' Washington in a hurry. Late in the evening he: showed up
at the home of friends in New Jersey. He was very agitated.
A small clique within the CIA was responsible for the as-
sassination, he confided, and he was afraid for his life and
probably would have to leave the country. Less than six

. months later Underhill was found shot to death in his
Washington apartment. The coroner ruled it suicide.

"J. Garrett Unde rhill had been an intelligence agent
during World War I and was a recognized authority on limi-
‘ted warfare and small arms. A researcher and writer on
military affairs, he was ona first-name basis with many of
‘the top brass in the Pentagon. He was also on intimate terms
with a number of high-ranking CIA officials--he was one of
' the Agency's ‘un-people' who perform special assignments.
At one time he had been a friend of Samuel Cummings of
“Interarmco, the arms broker that numbers among its cus-
‘tomers the CLA and, ironically, Klein's Sporting Goods of
Chicago, from whence {sic/ the mail-order Carcano alleg-.
edly was purchased by Oswald. : :

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“The friends whom Underhill visited say he was sober
but badly shook. They say he attributed the Kennedy
‘murder to a CIA clique which was carrying on a lucrative
racket in gun-running, na rcotics and other contraband,
_and manipulating political intrigue to serve its own ends.
Kennedy supposedly got wind that something was going on
and was: killed beforé he could ‘blow the whistle on it'.
“> Although the friends had always known Unde rhill to be
. ‘petfectly rational and objective, they at first didn't take
‘his account seriously. ‘I think the main reason was,!
‘explains the husband, ‘that we couldn't believe that the
. ‘CIA could contain a corrupt element every bit as ruth-
- lesé--and more efficient--as the mafia.*

"The verdict of suicide in Underhill's death is by no
a means convincing. His body was found by a writing
-. gollaborator, Asher Brynes of the’ New Republic. He ;
Shad been shot behind the left car, and an automatic pistol
* was under his left side. Odd, says Brynes, because ,
Underhill was right-handed, Brynes thinks the pistol
was fitted with a‘silencer, and occupants of the apartment
building couid not recall hea ring a shot. Underhill obvi-
ously had been dead several days. .

. "Garry-Underhill's chilling story is hardly implausible. :
_Ag a spy apparatus the CIA is honeycombed with ‘self- an
contained cliques operating without any real central control... on

2. A check of Agency records has yielded the following information.

about John Garrett UNDERHILL Jr.
a. DPOB: 7 August 1915, Brooklyn. |

b. Attended high school in Brooklyn and was graduated
from Harvard in 1937.

c. Died 8 May 1964.

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Department of State, concerns contac

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d. Wasa pictorial journalist for Life, 1938-1942.

e. Ordered to active duty-with MIS, Washington, as

_ a second licutenant, on 8 July 1945. Served with MIS ————.. -

for 2-1/2 years, working on technical and photographic

, headings for MIS publications, evaluation of intelligence,
and enemy uniforms, insignia, weapons, etc. “On.
“9 October 1945 received a War Department staff ‘citation

for superior workin military intelligence. Left active
duty in May 1946. °. ;

{. CLA memoranda of February and October 1949 _

“ show that there was interest by the New York office of

OO, Contacts Division, in using Subject as a contact for
foreign intelligencé.., Name checks were conducted with

various military. members of the intelligence community,

but these yielded insufficient information, and OO was
advised that contact should bé developed with caution, on
a limited basis, and that Subject was not to receive in-
formation classified higher than confidential.

gy On12 March 1957 national agency checks were

again. requested on Subject because of interest by the
- Office of Security. , :

h. A UP article of unknown date cites an article written
by UNDERHILL for Esquire. The article-described the U.S.
Army as shockingly weak, The UP piece stated that
UNDERHILL served in military intelligence in World War
Il and Korea. UNDERHILL said that he had served as a con- ~
sultant [probably in 1956/ to an Army coordinating group.

i, A report of 6 August 1954. from the Office of Security,
ts between UNDERHILL .

and one Herman AXELBANK, who was trying to acll photo-
graphs of Soviet military subjects. UNDERHILL reported ~
these_contacts to the FBI and to CLA. In November 1949

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Py

‘tor, ‘Domestic Contact Service, whose office provi
reply. ; a °. . .

. 4 . :
UNDERHILL visited Washington to catl the attention of CLA to
certain ANELBANK pictures and was acvised that Colliers. _
might be interested in some of them for an article on Russia, |
UNDERHILL discussed AXELBANK, with "Ricky" Haskins of

3. On the basis of the foregoing an inquiry was made of direc-|
ded the attached

ut Samuel George CUMMINGS,

4. The following information abo c
ile and from information

201-178343, was compiled from his 201 f
provided by the Office of Security and by CiCLSPG. :

a. His date and place of birth are 4 February 1927,
Philadelphia. “ ye mo ;

b. He entered on duty with CLA a3 a staff employee ,
in December 1950. He was then a GS-% assigned to —
Ground Branch, Weapons ‘and Equipment Division, OSL. -

In January. 1952 he was transferred to the Office of
Procurement and Supply. During 1952/1953 he travelled
abroad extensively, buying foreiga weapons. .

c. He married a German rational acd consequently
resigned in November. 1953, when he Decame a career ;
agent in Guatemala.

4. Cables of the 1951-1952 period siate that
CUMMINGS waé then buying arms for CLA and that
the arms were intended for resistance elements

behind the Iron Curtain..— - .

e. On 17 August 1954 CUMMINGS became the |
he(G1A-owned cormpanies known’ 2.
porarior and Interarmco
Swuserland, and

principal agent oft

as Ynternational Armatnent Cor

Lt, both incorporated in Ganada,

the U.S. CUMMINGS engaged in sharp practises in =

his conduct of business and was 2ls0 extremely diffi-
- eult to control. , :

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f. A1957 cable states that a business man in:
Panama, an Agency source, knew CUMMINGS. to

- be providing information to the FBI and also knew

him to be "careful about keeping the appropriate ;
U.S. Government agencies informed of his deals."
g.. In early 1958 CUMMINGS assumed sole. ~
ownership of International Armament Corp. and | |

vol. Interarmco. (An Agency audit established the =Y
net worth of these companies as $219, 000. 00.

CUMMINGS bought them with a non-interest bearing
promissory note in the amount of $100, 000,° payable

in four annual inatallments of $25,000, and certain
items of inventory which had 4 cost value of $67, eon

and a market.value of $250,000. These items were

to remain the property of CIA, and their cost was,

to be returned to the Agency after they were sold. oy

‘on 28 June 1961 the West. German publication
Der Spiegel reported that CUMMINGS had been em-
ployed by CIA as an arms expert during the Korean
War. and. that he had cooperated with CLA in » supplying,
arme to various trouble spots".

{. Shortly after. CUMMINGS: left his stafi position
for Interarmco, contact with him was established by
the WH Division. This contact was taken over by
C/CI/SPG iw September 1954. (CUMMINGS knows :
him only by alias.)> This contact is still maintained:
Until recently the principal purpose was to dispose ~\
of arms,(and CIA made.a sizeable profit on these a4} |
tranaactisns.) The current contact is not operational,
It is not based ona project, and no payments are
made to CUMMINGS who volunteers information’ re-

_ sulting from his extensive travels and high-level

contacts. An operational clearance for CUMMINGS!
use by the CI Staff as an informant was granted in
March 1958.

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j. On 4 January 1962 the Rome periodical Vie Nuove

‘stated that.CUMMINGS was hired by CLA as an expert
_in arms and ballistics.

ook in:December 1962 the Office of Security recom-.

. mended ‘against his use by Domestic Contact Service as
a source, and in December 1964 the CI. Staff advised that :

' it had no operational interest in Subject.

(Comment: As

wae ‘noted above, this statement is correct, because
Subject's activity is ‘not directed by the © Agency. He...

: volunteers information: }

1. An Interagency Source Register memo to ACSI,
dated 1 June 1965, stated that at that time there was
"Wo record of a current (operational interest in Subject. "

m, An Agency report of 24 February 1966 cited.
CUMMINGS, as trying to procure military equipment
from ‘Communist Bloc countriea on behalf of DIA.

n. Agency reports of February and a May 1967
stated that CUMMINGS had been in close contact with
the BND (West German foreign intelligence service)
for’ a year or more, that he had been given require-
ments by the. BND, and that these included lists of.
Soviet and Bloc arms for procurement. It was also

“reported that he showed a BND representative a copy

of a purchase order for the procurement of a Soviet
T-54 tank, the order having originated with DIA.
BND officials have often stated that CUMMINGS isa

CIA agent.

o. A form dated 1 June 1967 was directed to the
Interagency Source Register by "DA", presumably ;
Department of the Army.

5. Agency records contain numerous references to

INTERARMCO, 5 ;
. 4

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6. It is noted that UNDERHILL, CUMMINGS, and
INTERARMCO have not appeared to date in any press or

classified reports of the Garrison investigation in New
Orleans, with. the tenuous exception: of the Ramparts article

cited at the outset of this memorandum.

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